Cafardo On Rays, Lee, Fielder, Cubs, Eckstein

At Thursday's Baseball Writers Dinner, Red Sox GM Ben Cherington said that he felt good about his rotation heading into Spring Training, but admitted that the Yankees and Rays have fewer question marks in their respective rotations, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe. The GM might now have the payroll flexibility to bolster the starting five after sendingMarco Scutaro to the Rockies for Clayton Mortensen last night. Here's more from Cafardo..

After taking care of their first base vacancy, the Rays can now accelerate a deal for B.J. Upton to get a shortstop. Currently, Sean Rodriguez is slated to play there over Reid Brignac. Tampa Bay could also use an everyday catcher, with Jose Molina currently slated to start.

Astros first baseman Carlos Lee has to approve any deal because of his 10-5 rights, and hasn't been receptive to waiving those privileges in the past. The veteran is scheduled to make $18.5MM, but the club has said that they are willing to eat half of it to get a deal done. Cafardo thinks they'd cover even more of it to appeal to a team like the Tigers.

One AL East GM thinks that thePrince Fielder sweepstakes will come down to the Rangers and Nationals, with the Brewers and Cubs taking a shot if he settles for a one-year deal and elects to become a free agent again.

David Eckstein, who didn't play last season, has decided to retire even though there were teams willing to bring him into camp. The 37-year-old hit .280/.345/.355 in his ten-year Major League career.

If the Orioles, Tigers, or Yankees don’t come through soon, Johnny Damon could be in a real bind as far as finding a job. Cafardo opines that he would be a great fit in Detroit to replace the veteran leadership of Martinez.

i think it’d be a GOOD idea to sign him, cubs would give up what, a 2nd round pick in a draft where teams are restricted in spending? and if fielder has his usual first half, theo & jed could flip him for prospects further along with minor league scouting reports, meaning the bust factor would be lower and they’d be ready for the majors sooner. and all it’d cost is a 1 year deal? what’s the downside here?

As much as I don’t like to say this stuff, Maggs, Ibanez, Drew, and Vlad look to be unemployed next year unless they take pay cuts/part time jobs. Damon has his shot still and Matsui is probably the biggest threat out there just because he attracts the Asian crowds. However Detroit wants Cepedes and will probably go with an in-house candidate over the FA market.

As much as I don’t like to say this stuff, Maggs, Ibanez, Drew, and Vlad look to be unemployed next year unless they take pay cuts/part time jobs. Damon has his shot still and Matsui is probably the biggest threat out there just because he attracts the Asian crowds. However Detroit wants Cepedes and will probably go with an in-house candidate over the FA market.

I agree. Matsui is still a threat at the plate. the yankees need a left-handed bat (to platoon with Andrew Jones), he is still seen as a WS-hero in NY, and he can help Kuroda transition to a new league/clubhouse. he will be cheap to sign and the fans still love him!

What about JJ Hardy though? He’s 30 years old and the Orioles won’t compete for years and years. Upton has some upside. And they have some money, so if they can’t resign him they can always trade him for a couple of prospects.

The idea of JD Drew as a DH is one of the most outlandish and never going to happen of the many Cafardo always writes about every week.

Drew cannot even hit anymore..Big **IF** he manages to find a job, if will be because he can play a still decent RF with a good arm and not because he can hit. His bat deserted him 2 years ago and has long since been MIA.

I don’t buy Upton getting traded at this point. His value to other teams would be pretty low while Rays would value him higher. If Upton continues to produce the way he has been doing for last couple of years, he would elect FA after turning down arb. offer.

Possibly meaning two 1st round picks for compensation. There is also a possibility Upton finally having some breakout year due to his first FA year and with the slash line he had after August, .333/.432/.606 in last 26 games.

I don’t think there is any viable SS option in market who projects to be better than S-Rod neither.

I think this is pretty dead on. Any SS who might be available (outside of HanRam) is a minimal upgrade to SRod, and that improvement would pretty much be completely negated from the dropoff of BJ to a Fuld/Guyer platoon.

If I’m the Rays, I would keep Upton for now and let Sean Rod start at SS. He has had some gaudy minor league numbers and perhaps he can tap into them to some degree. If not, Beckham and/or Lee should be ready for the majors soon. As for C, Chirinos or the lesser known Stephen Vogt could start there with Molina as back up and probably produce acceptable offensive numbers.

Not that this changes the fact that Tampa Bay could use a catcher, but I’m fairly certain that, if they started the season with this roster, they’d use Jose Lobaton in platoon with Molina (at least, and probably as the primary backstop). Lobatan put up big numbers in a half-season at AAA last year and got several starts during the stretch drive. I don’t think he’s a long-term solution, but certainly has more upside than 37-year-old Jose, who has never been a #1 option anywhere.

It might also be because, you know, they’re professional baseball players. It’s their livelihood; it’s all they’ve ever known; it’s what they’re better at than anything else in the world, and they’re better at it than 99.99% of the world’s population. If I’m Vladimir Guerrero, I’m gonna swing a bat till my arms fall off.

Carlos Lee waived his 10-5 rights when he signed his contract, in favor of a limited no-trade clause that takes place this season. So the Astros can trade him to any of the teams he said he would allow without his consent.

Why is Marlon Byrd over priced? He makes like5 mil a yrs. compared to Soriano’s 18mil a yrs. Byrd is a good clubhouse guy I’d keep him and trade Soriano and 90% of his contract for a Single A player from Detroit.